In typical Internet based auctions, sellers place their merchandise for sale. Buyers bid for the items to be auctioned. On the closing date, the auctioneer determines the winning buyer with the highest bid and informs the winning buyer of same. The auctioneer may then act as a clearinghouse thereafter to transfer the merchandise to the winning buyer in exchange for the bid.
Buyers generally have an idea or a list of items that they would be interested in purchasing through an auction. A disadvantage associated with typical Internet based auctions is that the buyers do not know when and which Internet auctions sites have the desired merchandise available for auction. So the buyers have to periodically watch for the different Internet auction sites, almost on a daily basis, for the desired merchandise to determine when the desired merchandise becomes available for auctioning.
Another disadvantage associated with typical Internet based auctions is that they are supply driven and have no regard to the demand side of the equation. Further, with typical Internet based auctions, sellers do not, at least initially, know the kind of demand for merchandise that they would like to sell. Sellers would place more merchandise for sale if they knew that demand for the merchandise indicated that the sellers are likely to obtain a higher value by selling the merchandise through an auction than the value of holding onto the merchandise.
What is needed is a method and system for Internet based auctions in which the basic principles of supply and demand are followed more accurately than existing Internet based auctions.